Access and inclusion

The INCLUDE groups made changes to the way they operate their regular activity to make their groups more inclusive, involving their members to ensure that they felt included and changes were well-suited. 

Gathering ideas and opinions

Short-term

The groups involved their members in change, asking people about their experiences and inviting them to be part of decision making. 

The INCLUDE groups made small changes to the way they welcome and initially interact with new people to improve the accessibility and inclusive feel of their groups. 

Enabling access through information  

Short-term

The groups made changes to the information they provide about coming to their rehearsals and concerts, so it is easier find and helps people understand how to access their activity. They particularly focused on access information for disabled people.

The INCLUDE groups used activity that was designed to reach new people and organisations as part of a strategy to widen the diversity of their groups.

Creating musical activities that connect 

Short-term

All four groups planned musical activities with the aim of reaching new people and raising awareness across their whole communities. Large-scale events required money and effort to organise but had the potential to make an impact if the follow-up was right.

Approaching access and inclusion work strategically helped the INCLUDE groups set realistic goals and embed access and inclusion as key to their whole group’s development.  

Getting people involved

Short-term

The committees of the INCLUDE groups engaged with all their members and got extra people involved with building and delivering their strategy.

We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to make music in their community. This resource is for music groups that want to build a plan for making their group more inclusive.

Music groups often have an aspiration to make sure that everyone who wants to can take part in their activity. 

This might be to:

Across the country, there are thousands of leisure-time music groups that exist for distinct reasons and appeal to different people. This is a great thing, but it means that you need to able to clearly describe who your group is and what it does so that people know what to expect when they interact with you. This resource will cover how and why to produce a ‘definition statement’ for your music group. 

In the spring edition of Highnotes, we explore the effects of menopause on the singing voice and ways to address them, present the fourth report from the Big Survey 2022, and share insights from government participation data. Plus, Samir Savant, CEO of St George’s Bristol, discusses a groundbreaking project on music and mental health.

Many choirs use sheet music as a tool to learn their repertoire, but needing to read sheet music is a barrier to many people looking to join a choir. This resource will help choirs support new and potential members learning to read sheet music.

Written music is a symbolic language that provides a lot of information in a small space, but this can make it confusing if you haven’t come across it before. However, it is a skill that can be learnt, especially with the encouragement and structure of a music group. 

In this webinar recording, Making Music explores the steps music groups need to take to welcome and include new people in their bands, and the benefits of fostering a more inclusive environment.

CEO Barbara Eifler discusses the principles of access and inclusion, identifying barriers to people participating in your band and how you can take steps to removing those barriers. Our Inclusion Focus Programme Manager Elizabeth Palmer then talks about the insights and lessons learned from the INCLUDE programme, now one year into the project.